Mike Speciner wrote: ----- What does c have to do with it? -----
Nothing, as far as I can tell. But a logarithm must have a base.
It defaults to base e unless otherwise specified. Indeed, how do you define log_c(x) if not by log(x) / log(c)...?
But the practical question is, Is there a practical way to build trit-based processors? Would it be easier if they could be as large as a room, or larger?
As far as I know, *balanced* ternary can be implemented more efficiently than binary. Moscow State University had a machine called 'Setun' that ran on balanced ternary and three-valued logic, and when it was eventually replaced with an equally powerful binary machine, the latter was more expensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setun Whether or not this is still true with modern semiconductors is another question entirely, and one best answered by an expert in semiconductors. I suspect that even if balanced ternary turns out to still be better, no-one will build a balanced ternary computer (other than, say, a specialised coprocessor for deep learning) because so much software implicitly assumes little-endian binary computers with 8-bit bytes. Best wishes, Adam P. Goucher